A door which opened in Dublin in 1827 is still opening in Detroit almost 200 years later

Introduction

Educating those without access to it is one of the Works of Mercy Catherine McAuley placed at the centre of her mission when she opened the first House of Mercy on Baggot Street in 1827.

Education, freely given to women and girls who had little else to lean on, was one of the clearest doors she saw towards a different future. It is this same work of Mercy that Angela Walters, Development Communications Manager at Mercy Education Project (MEP) in Detroit, is highlighting in this story.

From Dublin to Detroit

In 1827, Catherine McAuley opened the first House of Mercy in Dublin to give women and children support, education, and a way forward.

In 1992, the Sisters of Mercy carried that same tradition to Southwest Detroit, when they founded Mercy Education Project (MEP) as a small tutoring program. Today MEP serves both girls and women through free educational programming. Hundreds come through its doors each year and participate in the programming offered.

Further Than I Am Now

Nicole Simmons found MEP in 2005. She was 37, a grandmother, and had never finished high school. Her mother had died, her son was in trouble, and she had lost her job. She remembers a sign posted near MEP’s entrance asking where she saw herself in twenty years. Her answer was that she wanted to be further along than she was.

Maths was hard for her, but her MEP teacher gave her one-on-one attention. He let her know she mattered as a person, not only as a student.

Nicole earned her GED in 2006. She went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from Marygrove College, a master’s degree from University of Detroit Mercy, and a law degree. Along the way, she took a job helping teenagers with job placement in Hamtramck, where she saw students making do with crates in place of chairs. That experience widened her sense of how great the need for educational support really was.

Today, Nicole is an Academic Interventionist for the Detroit Public Schools Community District, specializing in a technique that helps struggling readers.

She keeps in touch with Sister Maureen Mulcrone, RSM, and others from her MEP days, and she returns to encourage the women coming through the program now. She tells them it is never too late to change course.

A Door That Opened Twice

Daisy Guzman-Pena first came to MEP in middle school through its summer camp programming. She was hesitant at first, but friends who had already attended encouraged her to go.

Years later, as a high school sophomore, she was reluctant again when MEP launched a robotics program, but the enthusiasm of her mentors and peers won her over a second time. Her hesitation showed up twice but MEP’s door was open both times, ready to welcome her.

Daisy discovered a passion for the mechanical side of building robots, the design, the calculations, the problem solving. That interest carried her to the University of Michigan, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 2024, the first in her family to complete college.

She is now a Design Engineer at Adrian Steel, where she designs the interiors of commercial vehicles. She has also begun a master’s degree in robotics at Northeastern University, returning to the same subject that first won her over in MEP’s high school program. Success has not come without challenges. In college, she worked alongside a groupmate who underestimated her technical ability and tried to steer her toward lesser tasks. Her advice to other women in STEM is to let their work speak for itself. She credits MEP’s mentors and coordinators with teaching her resourcefulness, and their kindness taught her to extend the same kindness to others.

Still Opening Doors

In the 2025-26 program year, MEP provided more than 7,700 hours of educational service to women and more than 4,000 hours of tutoring and enrichment to girls.

Sixteen women earned their GED that year.

Sixty percent of the women in MEP’s program live in Detroit, and the rest come from 21 other cities across the metro area.

Nicole and Daisy are two of the hundreds who have walked through MEP’s door since 1992, the same door Catherine McAuley first opened on Baggot Street nearly two hundred years ago.

Angela Walters, Development Communications Manager, Mercy Education Project, Detroit, Ml, USA.

Editor’s Note: This is Mercy in Action in glorious colour in this story. It just shows that a little bit of mercy goes a long long way. Congrats to Daisy and Nicole on all their achievements and on continuing to keep an eye on the girls coming up in the world after them. Bravo!

Thanks to Angela for her gorgeous capturing of this incredible story.

Photos used with permission.